July the seventh
by I-Heart-Hatake-Kakashi
Summary: For Natsu and Lucy July the seventh means a lot. - This is an entry for Fairy Fest's week 8 contest over on deviantart-


"The End," Lucy sighed as she closed the thick hard bound book in her hands.

Turning it over on her lap so that the hunter green cover was facing her, the young woman smiled as her right index finger traced the golden etched letters at the bottom of the bookcover. 'Lucy Heartfilia' it read. She furrowed her brow for a moment and wondered if perhaps she should have used her current name instead of her maiden name. Given the inscription on the inside dedicating the book to her parents, though, Lucy felt it was only proper. Besides, it wasn't like her husband cared much which name she went by.

"haha, that idiot," she smiled, bringing the book up to her chest as she looked over at the picture of the two of them. "He couldn't even get my name right for the first few weeks," she laughed amused at the numerous nicknames the man had come up with during the course of their friendship. Oh he knew her name, he just thought it was funny to call her by similar sounding names and see how mad he could get her. Of course she didn't realize this until much later, and only after they started dating did he confess that he'd known her name from the start, but he liked her angry face so much he just couldn't help but try to get her to show it to him as often as possible. "hehehe, what a dork."

"Whose a dork?" a tussle of pink locks poked out from behind the half-shut door in the Stellar mage's bedroom. "Are you talking to yourself again?" Natsu asked as he stepped through the door of their room where his wife was seated at her desk near the window.

"How rude!" Lucy spat back, with an irritated expression. But almost as soon as she finished the words, the young woman broke into a fit of laughter remembering what she'd just been thinking about.

"She's finally gone mad..." the little blue cat standing besides Natsu said as he shook his head solemnly. "I knew it would happen eventually," Happy continued, following the dragonslayer until they both came to a stop in front of the king sized bed, next to the desk where the blonde Stellar Mage was seated.

Usually Natsu would play along, but as his eyes drifted down to the book in Lucy's lap, he smiled and dropped to his knees in front of her chair. "Is that the first copy?" he asked, carefully taking the book from her hand with little resistance. He sat down in front of her on the carpeted floor, crossing his legs as he began leafing through the thick book. Natsu had never been much of a reader, but he'd promised himself he'd be the first to read Lucy's book once it had been published and as always he intended to keep his word. "To my mother and father watching over me in heaven, thank you for all the love and luck that you brought me into this world to see," he paused and turned upward, bringing his hand up to cup her left cheek. In a loving wiping motion, he rubbed his thumb over her cheek as if clearing a tear that wasn't really there. "I can read it right?" he asked, knowing she'd probably say yes, and he did want to read it but unlike the first time he'd started reading her unpublished manuscript, this time he wanted to make sure that Lucy was okay with it.

"Yeah," Lucy nodded, holding her hand against his. The warmth of his skin was always to comforting to her. "I hope you like it," the woman whispered as she lovingly nuzzled her face into the palm of his hand.

Carefully moving his hand behind her, holding his wife by the nape of her neck, Natsu gently tugged her down to the floor with him, wrapping an arm around her waist as he maneuvered her so that she was sitting on his lap. "I'm sure I'll love it," he uncharacteristically whispered, bring his head down closer towards hers. Gently, he nuzzled his nose into the side of her neck. Taking a deep long breath through his nose, Natsu inhaled the fresh lilac scent of her hair, the scent of her shampoo, but one he'd gotten to recognize as entirely Lucy. Letting out a soft smile, he pulled her in closer to him, tightening his grip around her thin waist, before turning his eyes down to the opened book held in his other hand.

"Wait! What?" Lucy gasped as she realized he intended to read the entire book right there and then. "I... no! Don't read it in front of me!" she stammered, struggling to get out of her husband's grip, but of course Natsu was much stronger and she just couldn't get loose. She struggled only for a moment but to no avail. Eventually she gave up and began turning this way and that, letting her eyes wander the brightly colored room, trying to focus on anything but him and the book. Her eyes stopping only briefly at Happy who was loudly snickering besides them on the bed before hoping down on to Natsu's shoulder and demanding that the book be read out loud so that he too could enjoy in the story.

Natsu cleared his through and straightened his back, sitting up right with his head tilted and his eyes staring down his nose as he prepared himself to read. "July seventh..."

"Stop!" Lucy shouted, jumping to her feet after she somehow managed to break free of Natsu's grasp. "You can't... it's too embarrassing for you to read that in front of me!" she protested, frantically taking a few steps back as she covered her face. Her cheeks were a deep pink, almost as dark as the young man's messy hair. "Just... just wait til I leave... please," Lucy begged from behind her hands as she tried in vain to hide the rising blush.

"What are you so embarrassed about?" Natsu smirked, finding her embarrassed face almost as adorable as her angry face. Quickly getting up to his feet and placing the book on the desk next to them, he cautiously began to approach his -literally- blushing bride. "I already know what it's about," he gently reminded her as he came up and wrapped his arms around Lucy, allowing her to hide her crimson face against his broad tanned chest.

Though he hadn't read the book yet, despite many attempts at trying and sneak a peek, Natsu knew what July the seventh meant to the two of them. It was the day they both lost their parents, but that had only been the beginning of their story. July the seventh was the reason Lucy left her home, and the reason Natsu went in search of new one. Oddly enough, it was a July the seventh that they each joined Fairy Tail, though for Lucy it had been before she'd even reached the guild. Two days before in fact... on the harbor town of Hargeon, the July the seventh that two strangers had their destined meeting.

It was also on a July the seventh that the team on Tenrou Island disappeared for nearly seven years. And on July the seventh during the great magic games, Lucy was almost taken from them. It was that day Natsu realized just how much he cared for her. And in watching his struggle to rescue her, Lucy had finally realized her love for the pink-haired man as well. It was thus no surprise that a year after that, on the following July the seventh, Natsu asked Lucy to marry him. And of course, in true Natsu style, he'd asked her while dragging the blonde Stellar mage back to the guild where Mirajane had already decorated and prepared an entire wedding for them. Lucy had blushed the whole way through the ceremony saying she felt obligated to say yes and go through with it, but the huge smile on her face as she clung to the tanned boy's toned arm and nodded giggling through her 'I do', betrayed her true feelings.

"So do I!" Happy's cheerful voice called out from behind them, breaking the romantic atmosphere that had engulfed the two destined lovers.

In his hands, the little blue cat was holding the green storybook, opened to the very last page. It took Natsu only a moment to notice the snickering Exceed was wearing Lucy's red-rimmed Gale-force reading glasses, the same glasses she had worn during their very first mission all those years ago. In an instant, the hot-tempered man saw nothing but red as he realized the cat had just made Natsu break his promise to be the first to read Lucy's book. Without thinking, he haphazardly let go of bride, who, from the sheer force of his movements, fell back into the bed as her husband dashed towards the little blue cat. Happy though had seen this common and instantly took to the air, jumping off the desk, book still in hand. He raced towards the window that the two had broken into many times before in their youth and flew for his life. As he rounded passed through the threshold, Happy turned and smiled teasingly, laughing loudly as he yelled out, "She liiiiiikes you!"


End file.
